PlantYou: 140+ Ridiculously Easy, Amazingly Delicious Plant-Based Oil-Free Recipes

by Carleigh Bodrug, Dr. Will Bulsiewicz (Foreword)

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERThe delicious, plant-based recipes in this easy-to-follow cookbook are guaranteed to keep you inspired and motivated. Enter PlantYou, the ridiculously easy plant-based, oil-free cookbook with over 140+ healthy vegan recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, cheese sauces, salad dressings, dessert and more! In her eagerly anticipated debut cookbook, Carleigh Bodrug, the Founder of the wildly popular social media community PlantYou, provides readers with the ultimate full color guidebook that makes plant-based meal planning, grocery shopping and cooking a breeze. With every single recipe, you will find a visual infographic marking the ingredients you need, making it easy to shop, determine portion sizes, and dive into the delicious and nutritious dishes. Get ready for mouthwatering dishes like Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Breakfast Cookies, Best Ever Cauli Wings, and the Big BOSS Burrito that you simply won’t believe are made from plants. “ "An instant kitchen classic … In your quest to find delicious food that also promotes health, both human health and the health of the planet and the animals we share our world with, you’ve come to the right place." —from the foreword by Dr. Will Bulsiewicz

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Nonfiction, Health, Vegan, Reference

485 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 15, 2022

Reviews

[Miya (severe pain struggles, slower at the moment) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book! The pictures are beautiful. I love that the author added pics of her adorable cat, because who doesn't love cat pics! The recipes are super easy with minimal amounts of ingredients. The layout is really neat. Each recipe has a small picture of each ingredient needed. This is perfect for kids. Although, it isn't a children's cookbook, it is definitely eye catching and fun for smaller cooks. The ingredients are all great nutritional wise. All around a great cookbook!

[Amanda Staffieri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first cookbook that I have had the chance to review! Thank you, Carleigh Bodrug and Hachette Books for the opportunity to read this book. It releases on February 15th, 2022. PlantYou by Carleigh Bodrug is full of plant-based recipes! I stopped eating meat and cow’s milk over a year ago, so this book has been wonderful as I am always looking for new recipes. The book is colorful and written in a simple format. I knew I would love this book right from the beginning! The dedication is to the author’s father who tested the recipes that never made it into the book. Being the only vegetarian in a family full of meat-eaters…I found this hilarious. The recipes are also not all that complex and don’t take long to put together. It is broken up into 7 parts: plant-filled mornings, souper bowls, sammys & salads, the main event, let’s get saucy, simple sides, and plant-filled desserts.

I have tried two recipes but I have plans to try more this weekend! The first recipe I tried is the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Overnight Oats. It is definitely tasty but I can’t get on board with cold oats, so I warmed it up and it was DELICIOUS! It will make my mornings so much easier while trying to get my kids and I out the door to school and work!

The Recipe
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup unsweetened cashew milk
1/4 unsweetened coconut yogurt
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon dark chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix together and leave in the fridge overnight

The other recipe I tried is called Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Breakfast Cookies! These are fabulous and even my husband loved them! He doesn’t like things that are overly sweet and these hit the spot! They are easy to make and I have been taking one or two to work to eat on my break while my kiddos are at recess.

The Recipe
2 bananas, mashed
1-1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of salt

Mix together. Rolls into individual balls, place one inch apart on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake for 12 minutes at 375 degrees F.

I can’t wait to try more recipes! I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars!

[Jessi ❤️ H. Vojsk [if villain, why hot?] · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can recommend all the books of this author and definitely her Instagram accounts.
The food is so yummy and I love it so much.

Definitely recommend!

[Farmer Lynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I would have liked this book a bit more when I first transitioned, as the recipes are simple staples. Most of them fit even my stricter SOS-free diet with minimal changes, which is great. What I absolutely hated was each recipe is followed by pictures of the individual ingredients. In the Kindle version, an easy overnight oats recipe is followed by 6 pages that each have a single ingredient like a sprinkle of rolled oats pictured on them. This means you are flipping tirelessly through these useless images to see the recipes...ugh.

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really only saw myself perhaps making the breakfast recipes for overnight oats or straight up oatmeal.

[Britt B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really excited to try some of these recipes!!!

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

4 5 stars. Great super easy oil free plant based recipes whether you're new to the lifestyle, a veteran or just interested in having a few plant meals a week. There's a handful of pages as intro but the rest of the book is all recipes.

Loved how this book displays each recipe. Appetizing colorful pictures of each finished recipe along with color pics of each ingredient used with only a handful of directions (easy, right?). No bizarre ingredients, and some recipes have notes of substitutions or how to make gluten free. Over 140 recipes for meals, sauces, dressings, salsas, smoothies, snacks, drinks and desserts, this book has a nice variety.

This book was fun to read and delish to try. A welcome addition to my cookbook shelf.

[Kelley Blair · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trust me this is one plant based cookbook you will want to own. I ordered my copy today after downloading the kindle version. So many great plant based recipes with easy to find ingredients. The variety of recipes is mind boggling. One of the best attributes of Carleigh’s recipes is that she gives you nut free, soy free and gluten free alternatives as well. The big plus is she doesn’t cook with oil thus every recipe is oil free. There is everything from A-Z here. Great tasting food doesn’t have to be unhealthy! Thank you for a quality plant based book. Since my journey of eating healthier began a few years ago I’ve read my share of cookbooks, this one by far is my #1. She also has a website plantyou.com, check it out.

[Anna, Lover of trees and paper · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall, very simplistic recipes. No wow factor here. Don’t like her pretentious vegan attitude, but I’m not surprised. (Please keep in mind that plant proteins and minerals/vitamins are not the same thing chemically as meat proteins and minerals/vitamins …this is often disregarded or claimed they are the same or that one is better than the other. Cherry-picking is easy in this field. And I am not claiming one is better than the other.) The layout is potentially okay useful, but also childish. Even if I didn’t know what honey looked like, a blob of light brown on the page wouldn’t help me. It’s an infographic approach to a recipe, but largely useless.

[Kristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This cookbook will appeal to Instagram users with a photo for every recipe and easy instructions using small photos of each ingredient. Surprisingly, the recipes are very easy. The book was a good reminder to eat more veggies and how simple it can be. The author is very creative. Not sure if I agree with her view on oil, but less fat overall is a good thing.

[Maria C · Rating 5 out of 5]

I follow the author on IG and was so excited to pre-ordered her first book. Its great for those like myself who want to eat a bit more of a plant based diet and don't want to eat the same salad or meal or and over again. Great pictures and easy to follow recipes.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Almost at the end of a total kitchen remodel and I am loving these recipes. I follow a nutritarian diet and this book has great recipes that I can't wait to start adding to my repertoire.
Love that she cooks oil-free. I like to get mine from avocados, seeds and nuts.

[Mary Lou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plant You's recipes are relatively simple and beautifully presented. As with all cookbooks, some of the recipes are good, others not to my taste.

The author is young and attractive, and this comes off as a vanity project, filled with pictures of her and, inexplicably, her long- haired cat, often in the kitchen over plates of food. I love cats, but ick.

Food-wise, this is definitely for people new to whole food, plant-based eating. It's very heavy on smoothies, overnight oats, bowls, and baked goods. Very basic stuff, easily found elsewhere.

UPDATE: Since my initial review, I've made several more of the recipes in Plant You, and have found a few that I consider a bit more unique and worthwhile, so I've edited my comments a bit, and bumped up my rating from two to three stars.

[R.J. Sorrento · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful cookbook that celebrates plant-based recipes with vibrant photos. I love the format with each ingredient getting its own image. Categories range from breakfast to soups to mains to dessert. I cooked several recipes this week (chickpea noodle soup, banana stovetop oats, and cowboy Casanova hash) and they were delicious. I also recommend the overnight oats. The PBJ variation was especially good.

I recommend this book to anyone looking to change things up in the kitchen or for people who already follow a plant-based diet and want some exciting new recipes for their collection.

Thank you to Hachette for the finished copy. This is my honest review.

[Jill Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every recipe I've made so far is a winner. My boyfriend, who is an enthusiastic omnivore, has made the tacos from this cookbook once a week for the last month. The instructions are truly very easy to follow - I am not a particularly competent home cook, but I have made some really delicious vegan meals using this book. And the pictures are so pretty!

Added bonus: the author has included several photos of her very large orange cat, King Tut.

[Heather S · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this book up a couple of months ago and I have yet to be disappointed in any of the recipes. The book is divided into seven sections from morning starters to desserts. We have made at least 10 main dishes and all have been delicious and surprisingly easy to create. The ‘goodnight turmeric latte’ is my new favorite. I highly recommend this for vegans and omnivores!

[Heather D-G]

Ongoing recipe review:

Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Fast to put together and actually makes exactly 8 cookies. 🍪

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Plant You was a recommendation from my daughter. We have been trying to go WFPB for a few years with some success. I’ve completely eliminated red meat (and most chicken & turkey) from my diet. But, this book explains the difference between PB and vegan in simple terms and the reason that Olive Oil is used in Mediterranean diet but is excluded from PB cooking. Now I know the reason!

Virtually all of the recipes are simple and reading through them, I found that I would happily enjoy about 90%.

The introduction is a must read. Carleigh’s enthusiasm shines. Now…my grocery shop looms & I’ll spend most of the time in the produce section (as I usually do). Can’t wait to try some of these recipes!

Includes Recipe Nutritional Information, Acknowledgements, Endnotes, and Index.

[Noreen · Rating 4 out of 5]

You don’t have to be vegan to enjoy this book. The layout of the book is so nice, showing the ingredients at the top of the page. If you are basically a healthy eater, you will already have many of the ingredients for a lot of the recipes. It’s a great book if you want to add more plant based meals to your diet.

[Gina Zappa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a straight-into-the-cart once I finished my library copy! I love how the there is pictures of the ingredients for each recipe, so you can know at a glance if you have the ingredients on hand.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

fantastic book!
my 11 year old daughter stared to cook using it. and we have so much fun together.

ideal for kids (or anyone actually) to start loving cooking:
- simple recepies
- simple ingredients (!), including pictures of all ingredients
- great simple instructions: very straightforward, very actual, consise
- beautiful pictures of ready dishes
- amazing meals as an outcome - easy to cook even for a child, and it looks like in the book

highly recommended!

[Myra Vincent · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yummy recipes and a great use of vegetables in normal recipes to make them vegetable based!

[Kathleen Abraham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the layout, suggestions for substitutions. Simple recipes.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nom nom nom 😋

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing vegan & oil-free cookbook. I cannot recommend it enough! The recipe ingredients are obtainable, the recipes are easy enough to not be intimidated to try, the book layout is super attractive, and the recipes I've tried so far are delicious!

[Audrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the visuals and the simple recipes, everything seems so easy and delicious. Definitely go back to this one again and again

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great recipes that are easy, and healthy! All these vegan recipes are doable and actually something I would eat. Bonus points for the author’s adorable cat, Tut!

[Mackenzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cookbooks like this are hard to rate because there's a very clear message here in the beginning chapters about transitioning to a vegan lifestyle. Meanwhile, I'm just trying to add my vegetables to my diet. So, how do I rate a book about trying to achieve a vegan/vegetarian lifestyle when I have no interest in doing so; the book comes off a bit preachy.

The opening chapters list off some medical studies how we're over consuming protein and all of these "myths" came about from one resource or another. However, as a Type-2 Diabetic due to a genetic disorder and not from my diet, the insane amount of nurses, doctors, nutritionists, dieticians, endocrinologists, fertility specialists, and hundreds of other resources that I've read have still suggested to eat plenty of protein (and plenty of fibers). So, it's hard for me to take the word from this random woman and her cherry picked doctors to convince me to reduce my protein. Additionally, she went on about how she used to count calories, macros, weight, etc. She's always been a health nut and she's always been hyper aware of the latest news in dieting and nutrition. Generally, this is not a down to earth person you can trust to eat an all around healthy diet. They don't know what casual eating is like and they never will. However, they will expect you to eat a hyper specific diet when in reality, we're all just trying to eat to survive and hopefully a longer and healthy life.

DESPITE ALL THAT, the recipes are good. There's a lot of maple syrup which I can't have that much of. There's a lot of natural sugars that makes many of the dishes not that healthy actually. Sure, they're not processed, but they're still going to make your blood sugar spike, diabetic or not.

Overall, I recognize that this is a cookbook with vegan recipes and that's how I'll rate it. I saved several recipes, mostly the soups. Many of the recipes would go great with a meat if veganism is not your thing.

[Nathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not a fan of cookbooks. Too many ingredients that I have to procure, too many recipes I'll never use, too time consuming to even look through, let alone make.

So what surprised me is I actually did like this cookbook. Quick meals, a small amount of ingredients, pictures for every recipe and an easy visual guide on the top for quick reference.

I actually used this cookbook to make actual meals, rather than just going through it and thinking about how nice it would be to make someday when I have the time, energy and ingredients. (Generally I already had everything required to make them so rarely needed to shop as most of it uses staples I already get.)

Interestingly I got more use out of the smaller dishes (breakfasts, sides, sandwiches, desserts) than the mains, probably due to me already knowing what I like and having gotten used to making them. Still I added some of those to my arsenal of go-to meals.

This really changed my mind on cookbooks. I may not be running to the cookbook aisle at a bookstore but when I hear or see something about one that catches my interest I'll no longer dismiss it outright but check it out to see if it's something I'll get some use out of.

[Christy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can’t remember when I got this cookbook, but I’ve had it for a little while now. It is gorgeous with what has to be the prettiest layout to make recipes feel accessible.

My mom recently bought a copy for her kindle and has liked it as well. Her only issue was that there are a lot of ingredients for being “easy” recipes in some instances. While that may be true, I think for most recipes, it’s a lot of spices. Maybe the trade off of the beautiful photos of every ingredient is that it can highlight the volume of them a bit more. While my mom is a daily cook and I’m a rarely cook, I always found the most joy and satisfaction in throwing a bunch of spices together to create magic and a unique little flavor miracle. Because of that, and expecting veg recipes to be packed with variety to up their nutrition to the next level, I didn’t even notice that some of the recipes had a lot of ingredients.

The recipes we’ve made from this cookbook have all been delicious. I have a coworker who got into making chia pudding for breakfast because she hates oatmeal, so she was really excited that I could share a few new versions with her from PlantYou.

I wholeheartedly recommend this cookbook!